DanielKellmii

THX Optimizer and the Black Bars

I just got a new 55 in Mitsubishi 55613 (Gold Series). I was waiting to watch a movie when my wife got a phone call. I haven't had a chance to really callibrate the TV yet, so I sat there and played with the THX optimizer. When the section about brightness came up, I discovered that my DVD player could only display the first 7 black bars. The final 3 were missing. I have an Onkyo DVD player. It is the entry level model. I am using component video input directly from the DVD player.
Why are the final three bars missing and what do I need to look for in my next DVD player so they show up?
Thanks

aaron campbell

Have you set your dvd player to 16:9 in the player menu? Check that first.

DanielKellmii

Yes, I have set the DVD to 16:9.
I guess I was unclear. What I see are 7 black boxes. The last three are just one long rectangle. They are supposed to be 3 slightly different shades of black. I cannot see any different shades.

greg_t

Perhaps those bars are supposed to be for the blacker than black signal, and perhaps your player does not pass blacker than black has many will not.

Also, the THX optimzer is customized for each movie. Joe Kane measured different versions and found them to be different from each other and wrong. I would not use it to calibrate my TV. Pickup a copy of Avia or Video Essentials when you can.

ChrisWiggles

not that familiar with the THX patterns, as I never use them for the reasons greg mentioned.

Do note that Avia does not contain BTB bars or data, nor WTW data, which is why I also own DVE, to test this one particular aspect. For everything else, I use Avia.